Apartment plans tout upscale units, but little or no parking

The 18-story The River at Wells calls for a street-level restaurant and banquet room, offices and 59 apartments, but includes just 13 parking spaces in the basement. Credit: Korb + Associates Architects

The 10-story building Mike Klein proposed for downtown Milwaukee's riverfront included 72 high-end apartments and a street-level brew pub.

It also was notable for what it didn't have: parking spaces. Not. One. Single. Spot.

That helped kill Klein's proposal. But another new riverfront apartment plan includes just a relative handful of parking spots, raising a question of whether Milwaukee will see similar proposals as demand continues for downtown housing.

The idea of creating downtown apartments with little or no parking within the building is widely accepted in bigger cities, said Jason Korb, who operates Korb & Associates Architects.

He designed both of Klein's projects and a new riverfront proposal from developer Jason Ladner.

Local developers have generally considered parking a necessary part of any downtown housing proposal. Most renters use cars and want the ability to park at their buildings.

His 18-story The River at Wells calls for a street-level restaurant and banquet room, offices on the second floor and 59 apartments on the remaining levels.

The two-bedroom apartments, averaging 1,100 square feet, would have monthly rents of $2,500.

It also would have 13 parking spaces in the basement of the building, to be developed at 107 E. Wells St., and nine more spaces leased at an adjacent property. A valet service would connect the remaining residents to off-site parking structures.

"Within one block of our site there are thousands of parking spaces that could be used every night," Korb said. "It would be foolish to build more."

Ladner said valet parking would be among a series of services, including two separate fitness centers, his building would offer residents for additional fees.

His plan is to secure enough parking spaces at bulk rates that he can then provide to building residents, as well as other drivers just looking for downtown night life parking.

"That's actually going to be a good revenue source for us," said Ladner, whose $17 million proposal is to undergo Plan Commission review on Feb. 15.

Klein's $15 million development proposal, which surfaced in July, called for high-end apartments and street-level restaurant space on a city-owned vacant lot at 1027 N. Edison St.

The apartments would have ranged from 800 to 1,250 square feet, with monthly rents of $1,500 to $2,500.

The city's request for proposals called for no parking above ground at the site.

But underground parking would have been too expensive, Klein said, with soil conditions requiring deep pilings.

So, Klein's proposal called for no parking spots. In effect, residents would be on their own to find parking at nearby structures such as those for the Milwaukee Center and 1000 North Water office towers.

Klein, co-owner of Klein Development Inc., knew that would bring opposition, but "not as much as I thought it would."

Residents from the nearby 22-unit River House Condominiums, in the 1100 block of N. Edison St., raised concerns about the lack of parking.

Condo owners were afraid Klein's project would face trouble finding renters, said Matt Knain, a River House resident.

That could lead to the building being vacant, he said, or being turned into low-income housing.

Knain said Klein lacked market research to back his belief that younger renters, members of the millennial generation, are willing to forgo a parking space at their apartment building.

"That's a pretty strong statement to make without offering any proof," Knain said.

Ald. Robert Bauman, whose district includes downtown, said the River House residents had legitimate concerns about the lack of parking.

Also, Bauman said the city should hold off on developing its small vacant lot to see if the adjacent Rojahn & Malaney Co. warehouse eventually becomes available. He said a larger, better project could be created on the combined site.

Department of City Development spokesman Jeff Fleming made similar points. The department, which initially recommended Klein's proposal, later withdrew the city-owned lot from the sale block after River House residents objected to the plan.

"That (lack of parking) actually can conceivably be an issue in financing a project like that," he said.

But Klein said millennials, defined as being born from 1981 through 1996, have different views about parking, automobile ownership and mass transit.

Klein, 28, notes his own experience living in Philadelphia, where he never had a parking space closer than two to three blocks from his apartment.

"It was just something you dealt with," he said.

Philadelphia's extensive passenger rail system made it easier to live in the city without owning a car, Klein said.

Milwaukee doesn't have that advantage. But the future downtown streetcar would help if it's expanded to other neighborhoods, he said.

Along with mass transit, millennials are more willing to walk farther to work, and use Uber and other ride share services to commute, Klein said.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee is getting other downtown-area apartment developments that don't have parking within their buildings.

They include the 118-unit Brewery Lofts, which New York-based Whitestone Realty Capital LLC is developing within the seven-story former Pabst brewery malt house, 1009 W. Juneau Ave. Renovations on that $34 million project are to begin in March.

The rents will average about $1,600 for one-bedroom units and $2,000 for two-bedroom units. The residents will use the nearby parking structure that serves The Brewery, the name for the redeveloped former Pabst complex.

Whitestone considered underground parking, but that would have been too expensive, said Michael Zukerman, president. So, his firm will lease spaces at the parking structure, at the northwest corner of W. Juneau Ave. and N. 9th St., and release them to Brewery Lofts residents.

Eleven25 at Pabst, a student apartment community that opens this August at the former Pabst bottling house, also will have spaces at The Brewery parking structure.

None of this seems unusual to Zukerman. Whitestone is developing apartments in downtown Cleveland and other urban areas where the parking is in a separate location.

"When you're in urban cores," he said, "people are used to walking across the street."